Stranger in my house
by ylang-ylang
Summary: SLASH! AX...Xander finally gets his man


**FANDOM: Buffy the Vampire Slayer/Angel the Series**

DISCLAIMER: I don't own any part of Buffy et all, nor Angel the Series.  
FEEDBACK: Oh please send me feedback, privately or through the list  
DISTRIBUTION: List Archives  
SPOILERS: Slight Season 6

Xander leaned against the wall, simply staring the window. By the red-orange glow on the horizon, he could see that sunrise wasn't too far off.

A few weeks ago, it would have been a sight that brought him pleasure, but now...he sighed. He turned his head at the soft rustle of bedsheets on the wide bed and dropping the thick curtain over the window, he hurried over.

The dark-hair young man sat carefully on the edge of the bed and simply regarded the beautiful face of his lover. His eyes roamed hungrily over the pale countenance, remembering how at long last he had finally given in to his longing for Angel. Especially after hearing that Angel had his soul permanently restored. He hadn't dared do anything before that. Crazy he may have been but not stupid. He didn't want Angelus, he wanted Angel.

He had just showed up at the Hyperion right out of the blue. Talking fast and moving rapidly, and barely allowing Angel a word in edgewise, sure that if he did, he would have permanent skid marks on his ass when Angel tossed him out. He finagled a room from his brooding secret crush and went on a blitzing campaign to win the withered, dead heart of his long time fantasy partner. He was determined to make those erotic dreams a reality. The more Angel ignored him the more stubborn he got to win his man over.

He saw the sidelong looks Angel's friends gave him. The laughter and confusion in Cordy's and everybody else's faces. It took every ounce of courage he had not to run away at his shameless pursuit of the vampire. Though he almost did do a cut 'n' run when he had figured out that Angel seemed interested in Cordy and figured that the dark hair girl was also interested back. Hell, who wouldn't want the Broodmeister? But, thank God he had been WAY offbase on that one. But hey, a faint heart never won the fair lady. He frowned. Not that Angel could be ever taken for a woman or even a lady.

It took him three weeks of persistence. Some uneducated buffoon might have called it pestering and annoying the hell out of his broody hunk of burning love, but he called it persistence. 'Sides, persistence sounded nicer. Anyway, he 'persisted' until finally Angel had had enough and had yelled at him. Yelled instead of the usual ignore-the-babbling-idiot-and-he'll-go-away tactic.

And he had mentally gave himself a high-five before moving on to the next part of his fiendishly clever plan. Seduction. Which had been kinda difficult, what with being he was totally inexperienced at being gay. But that book, 'How to be Gay for Dummies' really help. He had been pretty confident that when it came time for it, Angel would teach him. And he could hardly wait. But this broody species of vampire was an surprisingly elusive prey. His precious hunnybunny knew he was being hunted but was too proud to scream for help. Not that anybody had any intention of helping Angel, when they were enjoying this show a little too much.

But he finally won his vampire. Actually, Angel got tired of running and decided to scare him away. Too bad for him playing a nubile, young victim cowering from the depraved, lustful vampire figured prominently in one of his fantasies. Very, VERY prominently.

And he had never looked back. They had never looked back. It was good. Far better than all the fantasies he had ever had. Making love, being loved by Angel was something that should be experienced by every man or woman. Not that he would allow it to happen, of course. His Angel touching someone else. It was just that the loving was that good.

And caught up in his imaginings Xander leaned down and kissed the sleeping lips gently, sweeping inside hungrily as the vampire came awake under his erotic ministrations. Once again tasting the subtle difference before he lost control over their kiss and his mouth was ruthlessly taken over by the more experienced man. He abruptly broke the greedy connection and lifted his head to stare into the hot golden eyes of the vampire that had been sharing his bed for the past two weeks.

He drew back even more when chains rattled from the pale muscular arms.

"What the...?!" Golden eyes looked swiftly at the chains that encircled both arms, and peering down his body, apparently both ankles. Eyeing the young man with knowing eyes, he smiled teasingly. "Baby, if you wanted to play bondage games, why didn't you tell me? You know I'm always up for an adventure like that."

But Xander remained silent. And the vampire looked, really looked at the room they were in. "This...this...this isn't our bedroom."

"No, it's not. It's a just a place that I saw a couple of weeks ago. I figured it was perfect for this occasion." The young man didn't smile. And if the vampire could have paled, he would have as he noticed three females sitting tied up in a chair. Manacles bound their hands and feet as well. They were stirring, soft moans of confusion coming from their mouths as they became conscious.

"Xander...get me out of these chains," Angel said warningly, his words becoming harsher as Buffy's head come up.

"Sorry, no can do big daddy. See, I got a question for these lovely ladies," Xander gave him a thin smile. It came nowhere to his dark, sad eyes.

Buffy glanced to her left, blinking rapidly at the sight of one Cordelia Chase on one side of her, and on the other side a familiar red-head. Willow.

Predictably, it was Cordy that voiced the question that everyone wanted to know.

"Dammit, Xander what the fuck is going on?! And why are we chained up?"

And the smile he gave them was so cold that they felt chills race down their spines.

"Glad you asked. Actually, one of you is a present. And as to why you are here, well it's to answer a simple question: So, which one of you bitches removed Angel's soul?"

The room seemed to echo with his words. No soul meant...and as one six pairs of eyes turned to the enchained vampire.

"Xander...stop this playing around! You know my soul is permanent. Now, get these chains off of me and we can discuss this like reasonable men." The vampire ordered coldly, only by a tremendous struggle was his eyes kept to a human brown.

A muscle jumped in Xander's cheek as he turned back around. "You know, I wasn't quite sure about it for a couple of days. I mean, you felt the same, you looked the same...I just

...I just didn't know. I thought that it was...I actually believed there was someone else. Because you sure as hell weren't acting like the man I had been fantasizing about, the man that I loved. The man that loved me. The man that I've been sharing a home and bed with for the past three months."

"Xander...get me out of these chains. If it's Angelus, we got to get out of here! Get me free, and I can hold him off so you guys can get to safety," Buffy said urgently, her eyes fearfully on the straining figure on the bed.

"Oh, there's no doubt in my mind that it's Angelus," Xander said easily, despite his racing despairing heart. "Cordy, you remember that demon we fought a couple of weeks ago? You even asked me and Wesley what the hell was wrong with Angel? He almost killed that girl that we were supposed to be helping."

"Yeah, but he said that she smelled liked that demon and he had gotten confused," Cordy stuttered. "Oh shit, Xander! Get the chains off Buffy first, then Willow and me. Maybe she can hold him back, and if she can't I think I can manage to hold him off so you and Willow can get free." And she swallowed heavily at the rollicking laughter that welled up from the bed.

"Oh, bravo my boy! Bravo! I would clap but..." Angelus smirked and rattled the chains. "I kinda figured you were getting a bit suspicious of me. You and that pasty-faced Englishman. You had this look in your eyes every time I happened to glance at you. And let's say the loving...you really need to work on it. God, Angel must be really desperate to settle for your pathetic efforts," he said with mocking derision. Cruel pleasure glittered in his golden eyes at the desolate look in the boy's face at his vicious words.

"So who freed you?" Xander asked quietly, his eyes full of pain.

Angelus shrugged carelessly. "I have no idea. But once I find out, I will remember to thank whoever it was." And the evil, dark smile that crossed his face made it obvious exactly what kind of thanks that person was going to be on the receiving end.

He shook the chains again, testing their strength. "Do you really think these chains will hold me?" Withering contempt was in his voice and eyes as he regarded the terrified humans gazing at him.

"No...but they'll hold you long enough for me to get answers." Then Xander turned slowly back to face the three girls. His heart was hurting so bad he thought he would die from the pain.

"Why did you do it?"

"Xander, I didn't do it. I wouldn't know how to do it!" Buffy shouted. She kept a wary eye on Angelus who was watching them with a cold smile of contempt.

"You must have done it!" Willow yelled, her eyes were filled with angry tears . "You obviously wanted to get revenge on Angel for preferring Xander over you! I bet that's what happen! You must have found some witch or shaman that could successfully remove Angel's soul. My god Buffy, Xander could have been killed by that maniac! Do you hate Xander that much to want something like that to happen to him?!" She finished in a broken voice, tears glittering in her vivid green eyes. "God, Buffy what's happen to you. Did you come back from heaven that screwed up?! Xander, get me out of these chains and I think I can restore Angel's soul. If not..." and the look she gave him held a world of pain.

"Willow! Are you fuckin' insane?! If, and this is a big if, why would I want to hurt either Angel OR Xander like that?! I mean, yeah I loved Angel a LONG time ago, but not anymore. And you know how messed up Xander was when Anya left him, and you honestly think I would NOT be happy if he fell in love? Even if it was with Angel? Hell, I'll be the one holding a shotgun to their backs, forcing them to get married!" Buffy screamed furiously at the red-head. But there was a shell-shocked look on her face at Willow's accusation.

"Then it must have been Cordy if it wasn't you!" Willow glared at the angry expression on the Seer's face. "I remember Xander telling me that you and Angel had something going..."

"Look, you red-headed harpy, I am NOT into necrophilia. Trust me on this, I get my jollies fuckin' live men. Or maybe you forgot what it feels like having a nice dick instead of a piece of plastic in your pus...oh shit." Cordy's voice faded out as she noticed Xander's frozen face. A hellish fury burned in his cold eyes.

"I think Wes had gotten suspicious. 'Angel' told me that he had sent Wes out of town to retrieve a rare demonology book. So I decided to return the Gameboy he had been badgering me about. He had been tortured, then drained. He had been dead for two days," he stated abruptly, starting to shake as he recalled his friend's frozen bloodcaked face. "And Gunn...I found his head in the bathroom sink. The rest of him was in the tub."

"So, I'll ask one more time. Why did you do it?"

"Xander, I swear I didn't..." Buffy cried out in protest, her face paling at the thought that he didn't believe her.

"Not you...I'm talking to Willow," was his shocking response.

"Me?! Why would you even think that I would hurt you like that? Can't you see that it was Cordy that somehow removed Angel's soul?!" Willow shouted, her eyes wide in sheer astonishment as the finger was pointed at her.

"You see, Cordy was never interested in Angel. He may had been sniffing around her, but she certainly didn't feel the same way about him. She told me so."

Cordy nodded her head frantically.

"Xander, she was lying to you!" Willow charged softly, pity in her eyes at how Xander had been tricked. Huge tears fell slowly down her face.

But Xander shook his head slowly, his pitiless eyes never leaving hers. "No...who do you think helped me get Angel? It sure wasn't Gunn or Wesley. They were a little to busy laughing to help."

"Willow...?" Buffy said. Her voice was shaking in wild disbelief. "Why?"

Willow's eyes narrowed, and her eyes darkened almost to midnight black before returning to her normal green. "What the...?"

"Did you really think I would allow you to use magic to get away from me? I temporarily stripped Buffy of her Slayer powers and Cordy's is more passive so I didn't have to worry about her. But you, my little witchy friend I had to make damn sure that you weren't going to be able to use your magic. I injected you with a special ingredient that will prevent you from accessing your powers for a period of three hours. I figured that would give me enough time to figure out which one of you killed Angel."

Buffy gasped, her eyes darting to Xander's face. "You stripped me of my powers?!"

But he ignored her, his attention focused on Willow's face as realization stirred in her soul at just how determined Xander was to get to the truth.

Willow swallowed heavily, her eyes caught by his dead stare. "I didn't kill him! I just...

just...removed his soul, temporarily. I was gonna put it back," she said protestingly. Then looked away from the freezing contempt in Xander's eyes.

"Angel's soul was NOT a toy for you to play with," came his blistering reply.

"But...but...I don't understand," Buffy stammered out, her face twisted in pained confusion. Her disbelief was echoed by the dark-haired Seer.

The witch's attention swung towards her blonde friend, an uncharacteristic, cold sneer on her face. "Why would you understand? You, the fuckin' golden girl. What would you know about being lonely? You've been lucky with love all your life, while I've had two people that loved me! And now Tara's dead and I'm alone again. So, why does Xander get to have a happy ending when I can't? When YOU don't even know how to be happy? All you and Spike do is just fight and screw your bleached brains out." She snorted in derision. "And with Anya gone we were all miserable together. Beside, he should be used to having a screwed up love life after all the losers he's dated." Willow sniggered contemptuously.

"Ooooh, I like her!" Angelus called merrily from the bed. Cordy and Buffy flinched at the malicious laughter that came from the shackled vampire. And they could only look at the red-head in stunned horror.

"Because you were jealous he was finally happy that you took Angel's soul?" Buffy said slowly, her voice rising as she tried to wrap her mind around the unbelievable explanation.

"Despite what Angelus could have done to Xander, you took Angel's SOUL?! Have you always been this fuckin' crazy or what?" Cordy demanded harshly.

Willow flushed and looked away, refusing to meet their condemning eyes. "I bet you want me to restore Angel's soul now so you can get all lovey-dovey again?" She asked snippily, a put on expression on her face.

But at Xander's silence she looked up to see him shaking his head.

"Oooooh, please let me tell her! Please! Please! Let me tell her," Angelus yelled happily. And before Xander could say anything he spoke rapidly. "Can't restore Angel's soul, sorry luv. The condition of his getting it permanent was that if it was ever lost...it was Buh-Bye." He broke into delighted laughter at the sick horror on Cordy and Buffy's face.

"Oh god, Xander...?" Cordy spoke in a hushed whisper, her voice thick with tears.

He simply nodded, his eyes still fixed on Willow's cold face.

"Damn you, Willow..." Buffy breathed softly, her eyes glittering with tears. She looked up at Xander, struggling for control. Angel was gone for now, but Xander...he needed her. "Xander, there's got to be some way of getting Angel's soul..." and she faltered to a halt seeing the answer in his eyes.

Angel was really gone.

Moving like an old man, Xander bent and unlocked first Cordy then Buffy's chains.

Then he looked at Willow, at her triumphant smirk before he unlocked her chains as well. He held Cordy and Buffy back from the slight, unrepentant witch.

"No...an eye for an eye...a soul for a soul," he said quietly to them and turned them towards the door.

At first Willow didn't understand his words, then soft laughter from the bed bought a flash of understanding in her eyes. And panic washed away the scorn in her eyes.

"Xander...I'm sorry! You...you...you can't leave me in here with him!" She yelled stridently. "He'll kill me!"

"You killed the half of me that gave a damn..." came his slow response as he ushered the other two girls to the door.

Willow tried to rush them, but the two grim faced girls caught her and threw her heavily back. She hit a wall and slid down, the curtain covering the window yanked away, letting in the sun. The red-head glanced hastily about the room, at the multitude of curtains and started racing frantically around the room, tugging at them. And she was still tugging when she heard an ominous click, then chains rattling, falling with a heavy thud.

Slowly she turned, trembling with fear.

"Guess it looks like we're gonna be roomies for a while?" Angelus breathed softly in her face, relishing the sharp reek of terror coming from the girl. She barely had time for a squeak before he struck. And searing pain flared in her neck as the vampire worked savagely, ripping at her soft vulnerable flesh with bestial fury.

Outside, Cordy and Buffy were crouching on the ground, holding tightly to Xander as he cried.

And an hour later, when the sun was at it's peak, they climbed onto the roof. Piece by piece, they tossed the panels away with stony expressions. No trace of emotion, no pity was on their faces as they looked down at the broken, bloody body of what used to be a friend. Their ears were deaf to the lurid curses that Angelus screamed at them as the room was filled with sunlight with each piece removed.

Leaving him with no place to run.

No where to hide.

And with set faces, they watched the vampire Angelus, formerly known as the Scourge of Europe, burn.

**_Stranger in my house....by Tamia_**

_I don't understand  
You look just like the man  
In the picture by our bed  
The suspense is pounding and clouding up my head  
I'm checkin' your clothes  
And you wear the same size shoe  
You sleep in his spot  
And you're driving his car  
But I don't know just who you are  
  
There's a stranger in my house  
It took a while to figure out  
There's no way you could be who you say you are  
You gotta be someone else  
Cuz he wouldn't touch me like that  
And he wouldn't treat me like you do  
He would adore me, he wouldn't ignore me  
So I'm convinced there's a stranger in my house  
  
I'm not sure who you are  
Don't see your shadow around when you walk  
Ain't leavin' no kisses  
Goodbye with no words  
If these walls could talk  
They would have nothing to tell  
  
So what could it be?  
Is there someone imitating me?  
Could she be taking my place?  
Look me in the face  
And tell me that I'm wrong  
When I say...  
  
There's a stranger in my house  
It took a while to figure out  
There's no way you could be who you say you are  
You gotta be someone else  
Cuz he wouldn't touch me like that  
And he wouldn't treat me like you do  
He would adore me, he wouldn't ignore me  
So I'm convinced there's a stranger in my house  
  
Pop quiz  
Tell me where we first kissed  
Tell me where my spot is  
Tell me if I liked it, loved it  
Or could it be  
That the stranger is me  
Have I changed so drastically?  
Is it I want more for me?  
And you remain the same_


End file.
